Industrial Electronics (IE)

Objectives

This group congregates a relatively large number of researchers organized in 3 areas: 1 Control, Automation and Robotics; 2 Energy and Power Electronics; 3 Embedded Systems. The idea is that the researchers of these areas work in cooperative subgroups, and that these subgroups increase in size and competitiveness, becoming autonomous groups in the future.

1. Development of socially intelligent robots, i) to build dynamic control architectures to endow autonomous robots with the capacity of reading motor intention for humanrobot interaction tasks; ii) development of learning schemes for social robotics; iii) Robots that provide assistance to disabled people; iv) Robotics, Automation and Virtual Games for Special Education Needs; v) Control architectures for legged robots with many DOFs and for movement coordination/cooperation between different platforms; vi) Research on algorithms and technologies suitable for the localization of mobile platforms, ex. for factory automation and mobile robotics.

2. Development and construction of new laboratorial (also with remote access) and industrial prototypes in the following areas:

Mechatronics systems

Computer vision and image processing

Instrumentation, acquisition, automations and control

Multisensor fusion and integration using soft computing techniques

3. Research in Collective Intelligence in Organizations (Modelling and software). Advance studies in modeling, simulating, and designing concurrent, realtime, embedded systems; Recognition as a top level R&D area at an international level; Cooperation with a small group of locally based SMEs in order to establish long term partnerships.

4. R&D development on: Shunt Active Power Filters and UPQCs (Unified Power Quality Conditioners); LowCost Power Quality Monitoring Systems; Optimized Interfaces for Renewable Energy Systems with the Power Grid; Power Electronics applied to Electric and Hybrid Vehicles; Energy Harvesting/Scavenging.

Main Achievements

Industrial Electronics

The main achievements of the Industrial Electronics Group were:

1. R&D on autonomous and cognitive robotics, autonomous mobile robots, jointlyacting autonomous systems (robotrobot, humanrobot) that communicate and work intelligently on mutual tasks (e.g. joint transportation of objects, robotic football, joint construction): i) to build control architectures for multirobot motion coordination, ii) to build neuroncognitive inspired architectures that endow the robots with socially intelligent
behaviour, iii) to investigate how such systems can be synthesized using methods from the theory of nonlinear dynamical systems.

2. R&D solutions on Mechatronics Systems, Computer Vision and Image Processing including the development of a virtual and remote laboratory for improving the under and posgraduate teaching/learning process and also the industrial cooperation (R&D FCT project).

3. R&D development on: Shunt Active Power Filters and UPQCs (Unified Power Quality Conditioners); LowCost Power Quality Monitoring Systems; Optimized Interfaces for Renewable Energy Systems with the Power Grid; Power Electronics applied to Electric and Hybrid Vehicles.

4. Development of studies, modeling, simulating, and designing concurrent, realtime, embedded systems. A major problem addressed was the design of a language capable to describe development tools, such as, full systems simulators, debuggers and compilers. Other accomplishments were the development of a couple of industrial prototypes.
In quantitative terms our work can be expressed as:

13 papers in international journals

40 papers in international conferences;

4 PhDs

4 conferences/symposium organized;

3 industry research contract;

participation in 3 european projects;

16 R&D projects with FCT and QREN;

several collaborative research with national and international Universities/Entities;